Storms
by Drop Your Oboe
Summary: Glinda comes in out of the rain one wet afternoon, surprising Elphaba and driving a whirlwind of strange thoughts into the green girl's mind. And though she doesn't know it, Glinda's got similar ideas. Gelphie, bookverse. Rated for ch.1.
1. Chapter 1

Elphaba shrank back from the window as the thunder crashed again. Even though she was in the farthest corner of the room, still the threat of pervading wetness scared her. With a sigh, she returned to her book, trying to focus.

Another crash: but this time it was the door slamming open to admit a drenched Glinda. On reflex, Elphaba pulled back farther into her chair, and Glinda, turning from depositing her bag near the door, looked inquisitively at her. "Miss Elphie, you look like you've seen a ghost."

Elphaba shook her head, attempting to resume a normal position. "It's nothing, Miss Glinda. Nothing at all."

"It's the water, isn't it? Oh, drat." Glinda picked up her forgotten umbrella from under her bed and set it in a stand in the closet. "I come in soaked," she continued, "and you cringe as if I'd burst in brandishing a knife. What is it with you and water?" She turned back to the closet, working out of her wet jacket.

"It is nothing I am going to-" Elphaba's voice suddenly went quiet as if someone had jammed the clockwork of her speech. Glinda turned to find her roomie staring at her curiously.

"Miss Elphie," she said impatiently, "you and your surprises today. What is it now?"

"It's nothing," Elphaba repeated, faintly. "And the issues I have with water are not ones I am going to discuss at this time." Her voice grew stronger as she said this, sounding forced; when Glinda next looked back, the green girl seemed completely engaged with her book.

"Well _honestly_ Miss Elphie," said Glinda, in high dudgeon, "you needn't be so sharp about it." She collected a towel and dry clothes, shutting the door firmly behind herself on her way out.

Once she was gone, Elphaba looked up at the door, shaken. She felt her cheeks heat, and buried her face in her hands. The book, forgotten, slid to the floor.

The way her rain-soaked clothes had hugged every perfect curve of the blonde girl's body. How the water seemed to make the cloth almost translucent…

_Oh, sweet Oz. Stop right there, Elphaba Thropp._

Sometimes, thought Elphaba, pressing the cool back of her hand against her still-flaming cheeks and forehead, she was less fearful of the storms outside then she was of the ones in her own head.

* * *

_That was fun. How was it, for a first try at slash? Review, pretty please, with saffron cream on top, 'cause I'm not a cheapskate like Horrible Morrible._


	2. Chapter 2

When Glinda returned, dry, her hair artfully tossed to make the tousling seem purposeful, the storm still raged. Elphaba didn't seem to have moved at all. With a sigh, Glinda hung her wet clothes on a hook in her closet and took the other armchair, curling up around her sorcery textbook and trying to focus on her notes from today's lesson. She tapped her dry pen against the page, just to hear it.

Elphaba curled and recurled a lock of hair around her fingers, completely absorbed.

Glinda stopped tapping. She looked back down at her notes. Up. Down. Up. Down.

The wind threw a handful of raindrops against the window. They hung there like pale emeralds against the few panes of bottle-green glass, and fogged the clear ones. Shiz was underwater, and all the more beautiful for it.

Elphaba had not stopped playing with her hair. She reached out and turned a page.

The very air in the room set Glinda on end. She was _bored_. She could not be silent, could not be still, could _not_, not when so much in her seemed to be waiting to explode, fueled by a spark from that storm-charged air. "Miss Elphie," she said, suddenly impatient.

Elphaba appeared not to hear.

"Miss _Elphie_!"

Still nothing. Glinda nodded- _if that's how you want to be-_ and, thoughtfully, tore a piece of paper off the edge of her sheet of notepaper, crumpled it into a ball, and flicked it at Elphaba.

No response at all. Glinda crossed her arms and stared at her roomie for a moment, then sighed and went back to her notes. Elphaba shifted a little.

A crumpled bit of paper hit Glinda's arm. Accusingly, she looked up at Elphaba, but the green girl was as quiet as she'd been a minute ago. Glinda raised her eyebrows at her roomie's silent figure, then turned her eyes back down to her paper.

Another bit of paper hit her arm.

This time, Glinda didn't even look up. Businesslike, she found a blank sheet of paper, ripped it in half, balled up one of the pieces, and tossed it neatly between the pages of Elphaba's book.

A minute later, half a crumpled paper hit Glinda's textbook. She smoothed it out, read it, and nodded sagely, feeling Elphaba's eyes on her. Then she folded it neatly and slipped it into the cover of her notebook, never looking up, to hide a smile.

The other half of the sheet hit her, this time on the head. Glinda snatched it, glancing up at Elphaba's grin, and pelted the green girl with it. Elphaba yelped and held up the book to protect herself, trying to deflect the bits of paper her roomie was attacking her with, to bat them away. She caught a pillow up off Glinda's bed, which was closer, and threw it at her. Glinda dodged: it hit her chair, scattering her books all over the seat.

Elphaba scrambled around Glinda's bed and over to her own as Glinda made a mad leap for her own pillow. She whacked at her roomie with it, but Elphaba had found her own pillow and was swinging out at her with it. Laughing, the girls battered at each other with the pillows until a huge bolt of lightning suddenly rent the sky. Glinda shrieked in fright, tripped, and fell into Elphaba, knocking them both back onto Glinda's bed. Elphaba pulled herself up on one elbow, looking at Glinda, who could not take her eyes off the green girl. The charge in the air heightened: both girls would later remember it as their awareness of each other being intensified. Then the thunder boomed, startling them again.

"It's close," said Elphaba softly, looking to the window with a shiver.

"What?"

"The-" Elphaba cleared her throat. "The storm. It's not that far away."

"Oh." Glinda sat up, replaced her pillow and fluffed it up. Elphaba threw her own pillow back onto her bed, not bothering with neatness, and retreated back across the room, away from the windows.

On her way, she brushed against a corner of one of Glinda's notebooks where it stuck out off her chair, and it fell to the floor, scattering papers everywhere. "Oh, sorry," she said, bending to pick it up as Glinda jumped off the bed to help her.

"Somebody was bored," remarked Elphaba dryly a moment later, picking up a sheet of paper completely covered in drawings. "What _is_ this, anyway?"

Glinda's mouth went dry. "We had free time," she said hurriedly, "and I had nothing to do." As nonchalantly as she could, she snatched the paper from Elphaba's hand and hurriedly returned it to her sorcery book. "I don't remember what I was drawing," she lied quickly, turning away from the green girl to hide the fear on her face. Almost. So close…

Glinda clutched the book with its hidden contents to her chest, trembling. She remembered _exactly_ what she'd drawn: vines and leaves, to cover the whole page, with hearts every now and then, and letters twined in among them:_ e, l, p, h, a, b, a._

* * *

_This is what you get for making me continue a oneshot: over twice as much out-of-character fun. I suppose I didn't have to… but I'm such a pushover. Keep going, or stop? Your call. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, by the way._


	3. Chapter 3

Glinda rolled her shoulders back, stretching out the tension of an hour of sitting in the same position. "Types of muscle tissue?"

"Cardiac and skeletal," Elphaba called back.

"_Smooth_ and skeletal," corrected Glinda, "because cardiac is-"

"Both, right. True or false: you need to set wards on a transformation spell."

"False."

Elphaba reached down for her coffee and took a sip. "How about on a sleep spell?"

"Hey!"

"Just answer it."

Glinda made a face at her roomie. "Yes. True. Myosin is found where?"

"Skeletal muscles, thicker filaments."

Glinda stretched her legs over the side of her chair and leaned against the opposite wing, reaching down for her own cup of coffee. "And the thinner ones?"

"Actin. What should you not do, under any circumstances, when attempting a spell?"

"Try to fix your hair." Glinda giggled. "No, Miss Elphie, I'm joking," she said, in response to the green girl's incredulous look, and shifted a sheet of notes. "Ozma the Warrior conquered the emerald mines in the Glikkus in what year?"

"1408. Is it harder to work magic on a vertebrate or an invertebrate?"

"Vertebrate. Let's take a break, Miss Elphie, remembering things makes my head hurt."

"Better now than during the test," said Elphaba, but put Glinda's notes down and tilted her head to survey the drawings on the side of the page, picking up her coffee. She sipped and grimaced. "Ick, it's gone cold."

"You can have mine if you want," Glinda offered. "I don't mind cold coffee."

Elphaba shook her head. "Thanks, but no thanks. I don't use sugar, and you use too much."

"I do not!" protested Glinda. "How do you know how much sugar I put in my coffee anyway?"

"Because you left your coffee on the table once and I thought it was mine." Elphaba made a face, remembering. "How can you even stand that?"

"I suppose I got used to it," said Glinda absentmindedly. "It tastes bad, otherwise. I don't know. Maybe the milk absorbs it all, or something."

"I still think it's too much," said Elphaba absently, peering at the margins of Glinda's paper. "You're quite a good artist. What does this say? Dancing- _what_?"

Glinda blushed. "Dancing frogs. It's something my cousin once said to me."

Elphaba picked up her coffee cup and looked at Glinda over it. "How old is your cousin?"

"She was two the last time I saw her," said Glinda. She giggled, remembering. "She was telling me this story about how all the frogs come out at night and dance, and that's why the plants are all wet in the mornings. And my father was sitting on the other side of her, and he was laughing, and I remember I was so mad at him because of course I couldn't laugh at her." She picked up her coffee and took a sip.

Elphaba, now too involved to care about her cold coffee, drained it. "What was your house like?"

"Big," said Glinda dreamily, "and the bricks were this pale grey stone with little sparkles in it that always caught the sunlight. Around the back we had a pearlfruit tree, over a terrace, and if it was a clear day and there wasn't a train through you could see clear to Rount Munchible-"

Elphaba giggled. "Rount Munchible?"

"I mean- Mount Runchible! _Runcible_!" But Glinda was gone now, giggling uncontrollably over her coffee.

"Mount-" Elphaba gasped, trying to speak through her laughter. "Mount Munchable!"

"The perfect place- to have a picnic!" Glinda could barely speak for laughing.

"Rount Munchables," laughed Elphaba, "the new snack food craze!"

"Crackers with mountains on them," agreed Glinda after a moment, once their laughter had subsided into giggles and they could speak again. "Oh goodness, Miss Elphie. Rount Munchables." She giggled.

"It's a good business opportunity," said Elphaba wryly.

"You know, Miss Elphie-" Glinda sat back down in her chair. "So many other people, I'd be afraid that they'd take a silly slip like that and use it to make a mockery of me."

"You don't think I would?"

Glinda shook her head. "No."

Elphaba was quiet. "You're right," she said finally. "I wouldn't."

Glinda dared to ask, "Miss Elphie, do you believe the same of me?"

"I- yes, I do," said Elphaba, hesitant. "It's a learning process. When you- well, when you're_ me_- it's difficult to trust anyone."

"I hope you can learn to," said Glinda sincerely.

Elphaba surveyed her friend, her head tipped to one side, eyes bright as a bird's. "Not everyone is to be trusted, Miss Glinda. But I think I can learn to trust a few." She smiled warmly.

Glinda sat back. "Who?"

"Who?"

"Yes. Who?"

"Well. You." Elphaba ticked them off on her fingers. "Doctor Dillamond. Boq."

"Why me?"

Elphaba looked up at her. "Why not?"

"That's not an explanation."

"Miss Glinda," said Elphaba, shaking her head, "you are far too demanding. I don't know why I trust you. But I do."

"Truly?" Glinda was surprised.

Elphaba sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "It's complicated. Can we do this another time? After exams, at least?"

"Miss _Elphie_, you're changing the subject."

"How observant. Yes, I am."

"You aren't any _fun_," Glinda said to her, rising. She stood, stretched her arms. "Want some more coffee?"

"Not if you're getting it," said Elphaba, making Glinda laugh. "I'll go later. We can take shifts, to make sure nobody steals our precious notes."

"Good plan." Glinda, halfway out the door, turned and assumed a dramatic pose. "Never fear, I shall return!"

Laughing, Elphaba waved goodbye to her, then looked down at the paper she still held. She tilted it sideways- there seemed to be letters twisted in with the drawings, but she couldn't make them out. She shrugged and replaced them on Glinda's chair, taking back her own notes.

--

"Miss Glinda!"

The name caught Glinda's ear and she stopped to look through the doorway. Pfannee, Milla, and Shenshen were seated in a small circle of chairs, books open on their laps but unread.

"Come study with us, dear," said Shenshen. "We were just talking about what it must be like for you, with _her_- so boring!

"We can hardly imagine that she _talks_ at all, she's always _reading_," put in Pfannee. "Go get your books, and come back and sit with us."

Glinda hesitated. "No thanks," she told them. "I'm almost done with a chapter, I just thought I'd stretch my legs. Maybe in a little while?" She continued past them, quickly, without saying goodbye.

It was late, she noticed with a shock and a yawn, as she glanced up at the clock on the wall of the buttery. When she got back- Pfannee's door was shut now- she found her notes back on her chair and Elphaba asleep in hers, a notebook about to fall from her hand. With a smile, Glinda put down both cups of coffee- one with sugar, one without- rescued the notebook, and gently shook her roomie awake. "Wake up, Miss Elphie. It'll hurt your neck if you sleep like that."

Elphaba woke quickly, almost frantically, before she realized where she was and relaxed. She sat up. "What time is it?"

"Late enough," Glinda told her. "We should've both been in bed a while ago." She giggled as Elphaba tried to speak and yawned instead. "See, Miss Elphie? There _is_ such a thing as studying too hard."

Elphaba laughed, but sleepily. "Point taken." She went to go change into her nightgown; Glinda took her own and went down the hall. As she returned, Elphaba set her things down on her desk and went to stand near her bed.

"Miss Glinda-"

"Yes?" Glinda, piling up her books, didn't miss the almost anxious-sounding edge in the green girl's voice.

"If you'd prefer, I- you don't need to call me Miss. Just Elphaba is fine."

Glinda turned to look at her, surprised. "All right. I'd like that," she added. After a moment, she said, "If you'd like, you can just call me Glinda."

Elphaba smiled. "Good night, then, Glinda."

"Fresh dreams, Elphie," Glinda told her, and turned down the light.

* * *

**_So many years my heart has waited- who'd have thought that love could be so caffeinated?_**

_There was a thunderstorm here last night! It made me think of you all, but this chapter wasn't done and I cannot write slash in a thunderstorm. And now that I've finished it, it seems so long…_

_Thank you so, so much, everyone who reviewed! I love reviews. Really, I do. -hint hint- I try to reply, but if I missed yours, don't feel bad._

_I haven't got many more ideas for what's going on in this. Do you?_


	4. Chapter 4

_Right, so I'm skipping around. What you need to know: I know where I am now, so finals are over, Doctor Dillamond's dead, and Nessarose has just come down to Shiz. That's all. Read on…_

* * *

At home, Elphaba had learned to be a light sleeper for the simple reason that her sister was, and Nanny was not. Though she'd lost the habit in her year and a half at Shiz, she'd found that it was returning with Nessarose's arrival. So it came as no great surprise to Elphaba when she heard her sister calling her name, and it was no trouble for her to wake fully and slip softly across the quiet room to the smaller one Nessarose and Nanny had been installed in.

Nanny snored in the opposite corner. With the exchange of a wry smile and the ease on both parts of having done this many times before, Elphaba helped her sister sit up, then steadied her as she drew her legs in to make room for the green girl to sit down. "What's up?" she asked quietly.

Nessarose shook her head, unable quite to say. "Nothing. It's just- I don't know."

Elphaba nodded. "I know. It's strange until you've settled in properly-"

"No, Elphie," Nessarose cut in, "not Shiz. _You_."

Elphaba was taken aback. She looked at her sister curiously. "Me? What about me?"

"It's- you've changed, Elphaba. You just- I don't know. You're-" Nessa tilted her head, trying to find words. "More outspoken. Less shy, I guess." She shrugged, an action that looked odd on a girl without arms. "_Different_."

Elphaba raised her eyebrows at her little sister, masking a mute recognition that what she had said was true. She knew she was different, though she was mildly surprised that Nessarose had noticed, as Nessarose generally didn't notice things unrelated to herself or the Unnamed God. And yet, Elphaba was unwilling to admit her alteration to her sister.

"Don't give me that look," Nessa scolded softly.

Elphaba sighed. "You, Nessa," she said, resigned, "were always too perceptive for your own good. I surrender. Yes. That's college for you."

"It's not college." Nessarose surveyed her sister. "And you're not going to talk about it."

"Correct."

"Elphie…"

"No."

Nessarose wrinkled her nose, exasperated. "Fine. Then tell me about Glinda."

"What about her?"

"Anything," said Nessarose, then inhaled quickly.

"What is it?"

"It's _her_," said Nessa softly. "I see now. You two are friends…"

"Yes!" Elphaba was becoming slightly annoyed. "Yes, we are friends, she's my friend, is it such a shock that I have friends?"

In the silence that followed, Nessarose shut her eyes. "Oh, Elphie," she said tiredly. "You know I didn't mean it that way."

"I know, Nessa," said Elphaba quietly, thickly, after a moment. "I know you didn't."

"But what is it about her?" Nessa asked curiously, recovering quickly from the gaffe. "What is it about her that-"

Though she didn't finish the question, a thousand million answers sprang unbidden into Elphaba's mind. Her naiveté. The way she truly did struggle to think. How true she could be. Her persistence. The way she'd changed, as she surely had. Even, yes, that rainy afternoon. And even, yes, the way her spun-gold hair framed her face when she slept. The way, sometimes, a wisp of hair would escape her ribbon and settle across her cheek, tempting Elphaba to get up and smooth it back. It always made the blonde girl look so vulnerable, as if the façade she used in public had slipped away, as if she could only truly let down her guard once the waking world had let her go.

She smiled when she slept, too, most nights. As if the world and all its troubles couldn't possibly get to her while she drifted through her dreams.

"Elphaba." Her sister's voice jerked her back. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Nessa," she replied, absently. "Just thinking."

"It's that hard to come up with an answer?"

Elphaba snorted. "Our Miss Glinda has a multifaceted personality."

"Pick one."

"Socialite."

"_Elphaba!_"

"It's true," the green girl defended herself. "Socialite butterfly. Not so much anymore, though."

"Why not?"

"Who knows?" Elphaba smiled fondly. "She's got quite a mind, when she chooses to use it."

"And does she?"

"She tries," Elphaba told her sister. "Without realizing it, but she does."

"Society," said Nessarose in reluctant agreement, and Elphaba shrugged.

"She was. But she's learning."

Nessa looked up at her sister, bit her lip. "I'm not going to get you to talk, am I?"

"Not tonight," Elphaba told her, biting back a smile and standing. As her sister slid down, Elphaba tucked the covers firmly back around her. "Fresh dreams, Nessa."

"Goodnight, Elphie."

On her way back, Elphaba noticed that once again, a stray bit of hair had fallen to lie across Glinda's cheek. She stood between their beds for a moment, indecisive, then quickly went to Glinda's and brushed the blonde girl's hair back out of her face. For a moment, she stood looking down at her roomie. For a moment, she contemplated kissing her on the forehead.

No, that was too dangerous. What would Glinda say if she woke? Instead, Elphaba returned to her bed, but lay awake, unwillingly willing herself to forget the feel of the blonde girl's cheek under her careful fingers.

* * *

_Wow, guys. That wasn't cliché at all. Ew. I promise you something better next time, something that's not a filler. This isn't quite what it oculd be, and it isn't quite right, but I can't for the life of me figure out why._

_My timing's all off. Well, too bad for it. Yes, I know it should have been Galinda in the first three chapters._

_Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed! And thanks to everyone who read and didn't. I know you're out there. -points around- Yes, you. Come on. I know you're reading, now tell me why._


	5. Chapter 5

_To everyone: oh, I feel all warm and fuzzy inside now. To Jamie and Ponder: personal thank-you's because I couldn't reply to your reviews. Thank you! and Thank you!_

_For some reason I think you'll like this one. Well, I do, at least. Call me crazy..._

* * *

It was what the students called "dead time," the few days between the end of final exams and the end of the school year. Nobody was allowed to be off campus, and yet there was nothing to do on campus.

That particular afternoon was beautiful, and so they'd opened up the windows to let in the sun and the air. Nessarose, after dinner, had wanted to go outside, and Nanny had looked dubiously at the other girls. But Elphaba had waved a hand, telling Nanny that they could manage, and so she and Nessa had left.

Glinda sat in the window, eyes closed, head back, nearly asleep, and let the late sun fall on her face. After a moment she opened her eyes and tilted her head all the way back to see what Elphaba was doing. The green girl sat on her bed, as usual with a book, winding her hair through her fingers over and over. Glinda put her head back up and turned around to see better, fascinated that reading all morning hadn't bored her roomie.

Elphaba's hair fell into her face, and she tossed her head to get it back, tucking it back behind her ears and resuming her twirling. It suddenly occurred to Glinda that she'd never seen Elphaba any other way than with her hair loose and falling around her shoulders. "Elphie," she said, "you never do anything with your hair, do you?"

Elphaba turned her head to look at Glinda. "No," she said, and went back to reading.

"Why not?"

Elphaba looked back up at her, mildly irritated. "Why should I?"

"Don't tell me you care nothing for your appearance." Elphaba stared at her, incredulous, and Glinda shook her head. "No. Everyone has the right to look after his or her appearance. Even you. You aren't _invisible_, Elphie. People see you."

"I've given up on how people see me," Elphaba told her, "all they see is this." She held up a hand for Glinda to see, then shrugged and turned back to her book.

Glinda watched her in exasperation. Elphaba was still twirling a bit of her hair through her fingers, and Glinda finally said, frustrated, "Elphie, you're impossible. Stop playing with your hair and let _me_." She bounced off the windowsill and onto Elphaba's bed.

"Oh, Glinda, don't," Elphaba protested, but Glinda had already taken control, running her fingers through Elphaba's hair to straighten out any tangles. The green girl stopped suddenly at the sensation and went still. "Can I still read?" she asked after a moment.

"Just don't move your head too much," Glinda told her, and Elphaba sighed. She found it difficult to concentrate, though, through the feeling of the other girl's hands running through her hair.

"What are you doing?"

For an answer, Glinda draped the long dark braid over Elphaba's shoulder. "Turn around."

"I'm comfortable this way," Elphaba objected, so Glinda scrambled around to face her and looked at her critically. Elphaba shifted under her roomie's discerning gaze.

But Glinda shook her head and went back to where she'd been, shaking the braid loose. Elphaba felt almost foolish, not being able to tell what was happening. There was a pause, then a _snick_ and a _click_ and a soft satisfied noise from Glinda. "There," said the blonde girl, "look," and she reached back behind her, stretching, for the little looking glass on her nightstand. She held the mirror in front of Elphaba, leaning on her roomie's shoulder, so they could both see her reflection.

Elphaba's hair was half caught-back in a braid, and as Elphaba reached up she felt Glinda's hairclip holding it together. Glinda impatiently shook a strand of now-loose hair out of her eyes. "It looks nice," she said in approval. "Elphie, you underestimate yourself. You should get your hair out of your face more often. You _are_ pretty."

Elphaba blushed hotly, but tilted her head, considering. "It's different," she admitted. "But I wouldn't call it pretty. It's just the change that's catching your eye. I don't know that I -" She reached back to unpin the hairclip and shake her hair loose again, but Glinda stopped her, trapping Elphaba's hands under her own, and tilted the green girl's head back, kneeling up so she could look her in the face.

"Miss Elphaba," she said mock-sternly, "change is not a bad thing. Change is good. Change is something you need to get used to. It will always be there. And you need to learn to be open to it."

Elphaba sighed, and smiled. "Well, it's summer. I suppose I could give it a try."

Glinda caught her breath, suddenly almost scared. With the smile, and Elphaba's nearness, her head spun. Her heart beat out a wild cadence. The room seemed to melt down and away, leaving the two girls alone. She heard herself start, "Would-" Her mouth had gone dry. She stopped and swallowed, felt her voice shake when she spoke. "Would you really?"

Elphaba too caught her breath, but collected her wits back before Glinda could notice. "It depends on the change," she said. "Like what?"

"Like this," said Glinda, breathless, and she leaned over, tucking a wayward curl behind her ear, and kissed Elphaba full on the mouth.


	6. Chapter 6

Elphaba seemed to relax, for a moment, but then went completely rigid, and Glinda, suddenly uneasy, pulled away. A hand stole up over her mouth. "Elphie?"

Elphaba's eyes stayed closed. Slowly, she put her head up, then shook it slowly, in disgust.

"Of all the things I ever thought you were, _Miss_ Glinda," she snapped, her words clipped, "cruel was not one of them. It seems that I judged you incorrectly."

Glinda pulled back as if the green girl had slapped her. "_What_?"

But Elphaba was standing, stacking her books on her desk and putting them in her bag. "For future reference, I don't take kindly to being the subject of petty dares."

"Dares? Where are you going?" Glinda couldn't understand what Elphaba was talking about. Her roomie turned to face her, clearly incensed.

"Dares, as what you just did, and whoever put you up to it. I don't appreciate it at all. And I refuse to spend the rest of the evening- _here_." She spat out the last word, and Glinda knew she'd been restraining herself from saying something else. She sank onto her own bed as the door slammed behind a flurry of dark skirts, clutching aimlessly at the blanket, as if she could reclaim her heart from where it seemed to lay in shards on the floor.

Elphaba, on her way, met Nanny and Nessarose returning. Nessa nearly toppled herself turning around to catch her sister. "Elphaba! What happened?"

Elphaba stopped and backed up a few steps, looking wearily into her sister's face. "People are cruel, Nessa," she told her. "And it's always the people you trust." She brushed quickly past them, and Nessarose turned to Nanny, bemused.

"What do you suppose she meant by that?"

Nanny shook her head. "There's no telling with our Elphie. You may get something out of Miss Glinda, though." She sighed. "Well, my pet. That's the last time we leave those two alone together, hmm?"

"Yes," said Nessarose thoughtfully, and decided she would ask Glinda. But the blonde girl's only answer, as she raised her face slightly from her pillow, was "Please don't ask me, Nessa."

"Did you argue?"

Glinda's lower lip trembled. She took a deep breath and said shakily, "I don't want to talk about it right now."

Nessa, watching her face, nodded and retreated back into her little room, leaving Glinda alone, pretending to ignore the tear stains on the blonde girl's face and the little muffled sobs coming from the next room.

--

_Why?_ thought Glinda again, furiously wiping her face with the back of her hand, angrily brushing away the tears brought on by her own foolishness. _Idiot, idiot, idiot. You could have at least asked._

And then she laughed quietly, bitterly, realizing how absurd that sounded. _What does it matter? She'd hate you anyway, whether or not you kissed her or just asked permission._

But if you'd asked, she thought without wanting to, you wouldn't have kissed her.

And Glinda couldn't deny that she'd enjoyed it. But what in Oz had made her think that Elphaba would be all right with it? That they could possibly stay friends as they were if Elphaba knew?

_Elphie, I'm sorry. I don't know why in Oz I- why I did that. Call me crazy, but for some reason I thought…_

Three nights ago. No, four. She'd half-woken to the sound of hushed conversation, but lapsed back into sleep. A few minutes later she could have sworn she felt a hand brush her cheek, ever so gently, like the touch of a butterfly's wing. It could have been nobody but Elphaba.

_But that means nothing._

Glinda hugged her pillow tightly, silently berating herself, choking back telltale sobs. She'd broken from her other "friends," knowing now they only meant malice: she'd had Boq, annoying as he was, Nessarose, their circle of friends. And Elphaba, Elphie, her best friend.

She hoped Elphaba wouldn't use this against her. To hurt her. She sat up, still clutching the pillow but staring blankly at the wall.

_Oh, for crying out loud. Does a shattered reputation hurt more than a broken heart?_

_Because whatever this is, broken heart or not, I don't think it can get worse. Oh, God. _She threw herself back down, pressing her face into her pillow. Let Nessa think she was just having a bad day. Glinda didn't want the younger girl to hear her cry.

--

Elphaba found herself a table far in the back of the library and sat down, burying her face in her hands. Why? What had provoked Glinda to do something like that, and why Glinda? Anybody else she could have taken. But not Glinda, who was her friend, who she trusted, who she thought she might lo-

_Don't think it. Not now._

For a moment she allowed the suspicion to cross her mind that Glinda hadn't been misleading her, that it had truly been real. That Glinda lo-

No. _No_.

But why not? Why was it so unreasonable to think that Glinda might feel the same way towards her-

_No! Don't hope that far, don't reach so high; you'll only have farther to fall. _Elphaba found that she was trembling. It couldn't be. Nothing could ever possibly turn out so perfectly, so right, so much like she wanted it to. And she wanted it to so, so much. It was so impossibly incredible that it was incredibly impossible.

For her, at least.

Elphaba put her head down, staring sideways at a bookshelf that flickered with a distant gleam of firelight. Why for once could something not turn out right?

_It never will for you, Elphaba. Take a deep breath and face it._

And she did take a deep breath, then turned her head down, hiding her face in her crossed arms. _Don't cry. Don't. It will only hurt more._

More than this pain in the center of her chest, the pain that left a hollow that wouldn't fill, not with anger, not with anything. So that was what betrayal made you feel like. Empty.

The library clock, far off, chimed ten, ten-thirty, eleven. Elphaba roused herself and went back to her room, letting herself in quietly. Nessarose and Glinda were asleep already. She looked in on Nessa, then glanced at the lump under the covers that was Glinda, bit her lip, and crawled under her covers. She didn't know if she fell asleep.

* * *

_This started out differently. Only then I got the flaws in my logic pointed out to me, and I had to go fix them, sort of. (Thank you, Holly, for pointing that out, and thank you also for reviewing.) But sweet Oz, Glinda went slightly emo…_

_Reward of your choice to everyone who reviewed, I love you all and you know it. Thank you for coming back, or thank you for coming at all, please do come back. A few tweaks to the next chapter to put this one in context, and then I should be able to get it up. Til then, be safe and have fun, in that order, and please review, because it makes me happy._


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: If I was GM and I owned Wicked, why would I be writing fanfiction? (Official disclaimer: I'm not and I don't. I just borrow characters. And GM's strict about that, he always makes me promise to have them back by eleven.)_

* * *

"I think I've figured it out."

Glinda froze at the voice behind her. She didn't turn. "Figured what out, Nessa?"

"Why you're arguing with my sister."

Glinda went cold with dread. "Really? Why?" _Did she tell you? Do you hate me for it?_

"It's over some boy, isn't it?"

Glinda bit her lip quickly to keep from giggling in relief like a fool. She composed herself, tried to look guilty, and turned around to face the younger girl. "How could you tell?"

But hearing what Nessarose said next, Glinda went cold again. She couldn't help but wonder if her roomie's all-too-observant little sister was a better actress than she'd thought.

"It was just you- forgive me, Glinda- in there crying as if your heart was broken, and her storming around, all vexed. I mean, it's nearly like a lovers' quarrel."

* * *

She'd known Elphaba would in and out all day, and she tried to catch the green girl. But she left for just a while, and when she got back Elphaba was there. She dropped a book when she heard the door, and Glinda shut the door firmly. "Elphie-"

Quickly, Elphaba turned and left, snatching up the book.

Glinda collapsed onto her bed. _Damn._

She heard a noise and turned over to see Nessa leaning in the doorway, clearly impressed by her sister's show of ire.

"Is she usually this bad?" the blonde girl asked.

Nessarose's mouth tightened in consideration. She looked from Glinda to the door, staring at it for a long, long moment. Then she looked back to Glinda and shook her head, offering a small, wry smile.

"Good luck."

Glinda sighed in frustration, fell backwards, and pulled her pillow over her head.

* * *

The next day turned out as beautiful as the one before, and Nessa pointedly left the room early, leaving Elphaba and Glinda alone. Elphaba, who'd risen earlier than Glinda, was gone when the blonde girl woke, but at noon the door creaked back open and Elphaba came in. Coldly, seeing Glinda, she set her books on her desk and slung her bag over the back of her chair. Glinda came towards her. "Elphie."

"I do not wish to talk to you."

"Well that's too bad. Elphie. _Elphie_. Listen to me!" Glinda stopped, took a breath to control herself. "Just listen. Please."

Elphaba stood up straight. "No. I do _not_ want to listen to you. I will not listen to you. You are trying to justify playing a trick on me and you cannot, because what you did was cruel and wrong and unkind." She shook her head. "I thought you were my friend. I _trusted_ you. And now I can't anymore. So if you'd be so kind as to get out of my way?"

Glinda stared at her, mouth open, then closed it and turned her face sharply aside, biting her lip. She stepped back, shaking. "Go ahead, then."

Elphaba stepped past her and was gone.

Glinda took a deep breath and pressed one hand against the other. She pursed her lips and looked up. A tag of paper sticking out of a notebook caught her eye, and half-heartedly, she yanked on it. It revealed itself to be her drawing, the one with Elphaba's name worked in among the lines.

Angrily, Glinda crumpled the sheet and flung it across the room, sitting down on her bed and covering her face with her hands. What use was it, anyhow? It didn't matter anymore. None of it did.

The door opened again, and Glinda looked up, hopeful. But it wasn't Elphaba, it was her sister. Seeing Glinda, she became concerned. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Nessa," she reassured the younger girl.

"Elphie still being stubborn?"

Glinda looked up at her. "How did you guess?" Suddenly, she felt as if she might cry. "I'll be right back," she said quickly, jumping up.

"Are you going after her?" Nessarose asked quietly.

Glinda paused, one hand on the door, and swallowed, hard. "No," she said evenly. And it was true.

Silence. Then behind her, Nessa stirred. "Good. It wouldn't have worked."

Glinda nodded. She got out of the building, mercifully, and into the kitchen garden, and sank down on the bench, taking deep breaths that were more like gasps. Her throat began to hurt fiercely. When she knew she wouldn't cry, she tilted her head back, eyes closed, and let the sun fall on her face in slats and spots through the leaves.

_Breathe, just breathe._

The sun on the sparkles in the grey brick. Little Talitha spinning in the yard, skirt twirling out in a circle. The evening light over the canal, last time they'd snuck out for a late lunch that has lasted far longer than they'd planned. Crope and Tibbett imitating some teacher or another, Boq calling out details that they'd missed. Milla, Nessarose, and Elphaba, their heads thrown back in laughter at the boys' antics, and her giggling, close to laughter.

_Just breathe. Somehow it will turn out all right._

* * *

The library was old, and drafty, and thick-walled; the fireplaces were usually lit, even in the summer, even if nobody sat by them. Elphaba found an armchair on the outermost fringes of the firelight and sat down, pulling up her knees and wrapping her arms around them. She turned her head towards the fire and shut her eyes, let the knot of whatever-it-was climb up into her throat. Wearily, she rubbed her face with a hand.

She'd been completely prepared to cut Glinda from her trust. And she'd wanted to. The thought burned her throat and she shook her head- for how dare she hurt Elphaba like that?

_Be reasonable. There's no way she could have known._

Well, that at least was true enough. Elphaba was beginning to doubt her own distrust. And, she realized, part of her- most of her- still wanted to trust Glinda, to forgive her, and just to ask-

"Miss Elphaba?"

Elphaba opened her eyes. She recognized the voice- the new boy, Fiyero. "Are you all right?" he continued.

She turned her head and raised an eyebrow, inquisitive, and he blushed, sheepishly. "I just wondered if you were feeling all right. I thought- I mean, you looked-"

"Thank you for your concern, Master Fiyero," she said smoothly, cutting him off, "but I'm fine. Just thinking," she added, with a small, tight-lipped smile.

He nodded. "Do- no, never mind. Good afternoon, Miss Elphaba."

She nodded once, in acknowledgement, but kept her head turned until she heard the heavy door creak open and shut. Then she sighed and looked back at the fireplace.

-just to ask-

Elphaba took a deep breath and with it forced down the lump in her throat. She stared at the fire, not seeing it.

_Did you mean it?_

She shut her eyes and bit her lip against what would come with the answer, whatever it was.

Even though it wasn't late, Nanny at the least would worry about her. Elphaba gathered her things and went back to her room. Nessarose called a greeting from the other room; Glinda was absent, but Elphaba stepped on a crumpled piece of paper lying on the floor. She picked it up and smoothed it out. The top was dated as if for taking notes, dated several weeks ago, but the entire page was covered in drawings. Elphaba grinned, then frowned- she recognized this! - and studied the lines more closely. One hand rose to stifle a gasp, her eyes widening as she saw what was there. She laid the paper down and closed her eyes.

_Oh, sweet Oz, I yelled at her, and all this time she-_

Elphaba's hands were shaking. She smoothed the paper again, then folded it neatly into quarters, to give her hands something to do, and slid it into a book next to her bed. She rose: she couldn't face Glinda today. Not just yet.

That was when she heard the first thunderclap. She shivered convulsively and subsided back onto her bed.

That night, it was Glinda who came back late, not quite drenched but close to it. The room was eerily quiet, save for Elphaba's breathing and the _snick_ as Glinda shut the door. For a spiteful moment, she wished that her roomie was awake, so she could see her flinch back, so she could know that she had as much of an influence on Elphaba as the green girl did on her with her sharp words and quick temper. She sat down on her bed, shaking her head to flip the water out of her hair, and looked at Elphaba sleeping.

The green girl sighed and turned over, peacefully unaware of Glinda's thoughts, and Glinda instantly regretted thinking them. Just because Elphie wouldn't listen was no cause to hurt her. She stood, tentative, then stepped forwards, and her hand hovered out and touched Elphaba's hair. In her sleep, the green girl jerked away. Glinda snatched her hand back, scared suddenly, shivering only partly from the damp, and retreated.

A while later, dry and dressed, she buried herself entirely under her blanket, pulling it up over her head to hide under what meager protection it afforded from the storm, and fell, if only fitfully, asleep.

* * *

_Much appreciated, everyone who read and/or reviewed, much appreciated and much love. And because it's fun to see your name in someone else's story… _

_DefyingGravity4ever – ReallyUhSharp – somedorkynerd – Holly – wicked92 – Crazy Homeschooler – TheWitch'sCat – ALICE IT'S RAINing – JadeTakashi – Mbard _

_Y'all just succeeded in 1) making me smile and 2) majorly freaking out my spellchecker, well done.  
_

_Talitha, by the way, is Glinda's cousin, the little one with the dancing frogs. And Fiyero snuck into the library while I wasn't watching! I'm going to have to change the locks._

_I won't be seeing you for quite a while, sadly. I'm leaving tomorrow for something like three weeks- I will be back on Monday, but only for Monday. (I'm so going to write on the plane, and my copy of Wicked is going with me. I love planes.) And I shall look forward to reading your reviews when I get back, so please leave one._

_I'll miss you! )_


	8. Chapter 8

Elphaba awoke suddenly in the night, disoriented. She looked around for what had woken her up and twitched as lightning flared outside the window. With a sigh, she turned over so she would not have to see the sheets of water pelting past the window.

Glinda was sitting up in her own bed, covers pulled tight to her chin. At the sight of her roomie seeming so terrified, Elphaba remembered the note. She fought down a surge of shame rising in her throat and raised herself up on one elbow. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing," Glinda whispered back in a small voice that shook.

"That doesn't look like nothing," Elphaba observed, sitting up and reaching for the lamp. "Are you sick?"

Glinda shook her head. "I'm fine. Don't, you'll wake Nessa," she added hurriedly as the green girl struck a match.

"It's all right." In the fresh glow of the lamp, Elphaba gave Glinda an unreadable look. "She's not here."

"What?"

"Their ceiling started leaking," Elphaba explained, "and Nanny complained. On Nessa's behalf, of course. They've moved across the hall until it can be fixed."

Glinda nodded shakily. Just then thunder sounded overhead and Elphaba saw the blonde girl flinch, on impulse pulling her blanket up to her chin.

Elphaba tilted her head, studying her roomie's shaking form. "It's the storm, isn't it?"

Glinda looked over at her. She bit her lip, then nodded, quickly. "They've always scared me," she said. "Ever since I was little." Lightning arced down through the sky and Glinda flinched again. Elphaba sighed. She hated seeing Glinda so scared, knowing there was nothing she could do about it-

Well.

On a whim, Elphaba flung her blanket back and crossed over to Glinda's bed, sitting at the foot and folding her legs underneath her. She propped her chin on interlaced fingers and leveled her roomie a stare, albeit an even and sympathetic one. "There's nothing to be scared of, Glinda. It's only water."

"And thunder," protested Glinda, "and lightning and wind."

"Electricity," said Elphaba softly, "and air pressure, and differences in temperature."

Glinda shook her head. "Elphie, you know I don't think like that." Thunder crashed again and she squeaked.

"Well, that's what it is."

"But it's so _loud_," said Glinda softly, "and so unexpected." She looked at Elphaba, as if just then realizing something. "It doesn't scare you?"

"Glinda, I just explained…"

"No," said Glinda hesitantly, "no, I meant… all that water. Doesn't that- ?"

Elphaba gave her a little sad smile. "I don't exactly like it," she explained wryly, "but it's outside. Either way, I've learned to avoid it. I've had eighteen years of practice. And I know enough about weather not to be afraid of what comes with it."

Glinda sighed, resigned. Absently, she ran a hand through her hair, then shook out her curls with her fingers and said, "Ugh, humidity." In spite of herself, Elphaba giggled. The lightning came then, and Elphaba turned her face towards the window, eyes closed, and went completely still. Glinda looked at her, sharp profile dim-silhouetted in the dark room. "What is it?"

"There's something- majestic about that all, I think." The green girl's voice was hushed: she seemed almost rapt. "All that wildness, all that energy, loose, flying around the sky. Can't you feel it?" She looked back at Glinda, almost quivering with it. Glinda smiled crookedly.

"You see it so differently than I do."

Elphaba smiled. Just then thunder boomed again, and Glinda flinched and then frowned. "Elphie-"

"What?"

"You aren't mad at me anymore."

"No." Elphaba looked down, shaking her head. "No, I'm not." She looked back up, straight into Glinda's eyes. "Actually, I wanted to apologize." She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I was so harsh with you," she said. "I didn't mean to snap like that. I- I can't say I didn't mean it, because I did then. But I do regret it."

Glinda felt like she was falling to pieces. _Thank Oz._ She shut her eyes and let out the breath she'd been holding.

"Are you all right?" Elphaba's voice was concerned, and Glinda forced herself to open her eyes.

"I will be," she said, and took another deep breath. "I'm just-" What? Happy? Relieved? She didn't quite know yet where she stood with the green girl. "What changed your mind?"

Elphaba bit her lip. She slid off Glinda's bed and went to her bag, rifling through it until she found what she was looking for. Coming back, she sat a bit closer to Glinda than where she had before and slid a crumpled-looking fold of paper across the blanket. As Glinda opened it, Elphaba said quietly, "I found that on the floor yesterday, and I, um, remembered seeing it. A while ago," she added.

One hand stole up to cover Glinda's mouth. Slowly, she looked back up at Elphaba. "Stupid," she said softly, and for a moment Elphaba was taken aback. But Glinda closed her eyes and pressed her hand to her cheek. "Idiot," she muttered, "I shouldn't have thrown it. Elphie, I-" This was addressed to the green girl, and Elphaba realized she'd been talking to herself before. "I never meant for you to find that-"

"Glinda." Elphaba put her hands flat on the bed. "I believe you, it's fine. I _am_ sorry I got angry," she added. "I was just- I was scared."

"Scared?"

"I'd thought that I could trust you," the green girl started hesitantly, "and then you made a joke of me, or so I thought. And if I couldn't trust you- if someone I thought I trusted would play off my feelings like that just for their own entertainment- well," she finished with a little laugh, "there's not many people I can trust, and if I'd mistaken one…"

"Then who's to say you haven't mistaken the others?" Glinda nodded in understanding. Then suddenly, she realized something Elphaba had said. "Wait."

"What?"

"You said- _your_ feelings," whispered Glinda. Elphaba looked down and wouldn't meet her eyes. Glinda was shocked. "Elphie, you- ?"

Elphaba bowed her head farther, twisting her hands in the blanket, and Glinda knew that she was right. "Oh, Elphie," she said softly, "you know I wouldn't do something like that, don't you? You know you can trust me, right?"

"I'd hoped I could," Elphaba said softly, "but I just- it threw me…"

As she trailed off, Glinda shook her head. "Elphie, have I ever lied to you?"

Elphaba looked up. "Once," she said, her voice quiet.

"What did I say?"

Elphaba glanced back down at her hands, then up at her roomie. "You said I was beautiful."

"Oh, Elphie," said Glinda again, sadly, and reached out to put her hand over the green girl's. Startled at her touch, Elphaba looked up. Glinda bit her lip. "That wasn't a lie."

Elphaba shut her eyes.

"Elphie, it wasn't," she said fiercely. "And- when I kissed you…" She saw Elphaba's head tilt down just a fraction, and took a deep breath. "That was not a lie either."

Elphaba looked up at her. "I know," she said softly.

Glinda nodded. Suddenly weary, she pressed a hand to her face again. "I was scared too, Elphie," she whispered. "I was afraid I'd lost you as a friend, or as- as anything else, and I don't think I could-" Her voice hitched, and she felt a tear run down her face.

"Glinda-" She felt Elphaba close, closer, and then the green girl reached up and gently wiped Glinda's cheek with a sleeve. "Don't cry. Please don't cry." Glinda looked up, and Elphaba pulled her hand back. "I'm not going anywhere," she said softly, and leaned in to close the remaining space between them and press her lips against Glinda's.

The kiss took them both by surprise, and they pulled quickly away from each other. Elphaba looked as if she would speak, as if to apologize, but Glinda whispered, "Don't say anything," and leaned forward again.

And in that moment, they became much more than two frightened girls clinging to each other in the middle of the night during a rainstorm. Together they trapped the storm's wild splendor, pulled it down between them to pool at where their hands and lips touched, until the very air in the room seemed to crackle with energy.

Thunder crashed again and they were released, Elphaba breathless and shaken, Glinda breathless and startled. Again, Glinda pressed a hand over her mouth. Elphaba reached out and touched her cheek, lacing her fingers through Glinda's. She closed her eyes again.

"What is it?"

Elphaba's eyes were still closed. "Nothing." She tilted her head back, dropping her arm so that their hands lay clasped on the bed. "It's just that something like this could be happening to me, something I wanted…"

Glinda's throat tightened in sympathy for the green girl. She laid her other hand over Elphaba's. "Something this real?"

Elphaba opened her eyes. "It is, isn't it," she said, and put her arms around Glinda. In the dark they held each other close.

After a moment, another thunderclap split the night. Glinda squeaked and clutched tighter at Elphaba.

"Shh," said Elphaba. "Look at me." She pulled away so she could see Glinda. "It's only a storm," she said, uncharacteristically reassuring.

Glinda nodded, still frightened, and wound her fingers through the green girl's.

"I know. It's only a storm."

_There. Happy now? )_

_Ah, I've missed this. My sincere apologies. Patience is a virtue, but I never meant to test yours, and I know it's been at least twice as long as I said it would be. If you want the whole story you can ask, but trust me, it's pretty boring._

_Here goes:_

_Dr. Crazy Homeschooler - Mbard - TheWitch'sCat - ReallyUhSharp - ALCE I__T'S RAINing - xAnimex07 - JadeTakashi - Arwen17evenstar - Alcandre - Japple Jacks_

_Thanks, everyone. You rock._

_You know what to do. (...that is, if you don't mind.)_


	9. Chapter 9

The rain lasted through the night, and so it was to a dull grey light that Glinda woke. Still sleepy, she turned over, blinking, then sat up.

Elphaba was pacing the length of the small room, slowly, worrying the edge of her sleeve as she walked. Every so often she'd stop and bite her lip, or look out at the rain, or shake her head. Glinda closed her eyes, briefly, in sympathy. She got up and, unnoticed by the green girl, crept barefoot across the room until she stood at the foot of her roomie's bed. Elphaba still hadn't noticed her. Glinda cleared her throat.

"You didn't sleep well either, did you?"

Guiltily, Elphaba stopped pacing, turning to face her roomie. She shook her head. "No."

Glinda nodded. Elphaba sat down on her bed. "Glinda," she said unsteadily, "tell me- last night-" She hesitated, and Glinda sat down next to her. She reached out and put her hand over Elphaba's, curling her fingers under the other girl's hand.

"You didn't dream it."

Elphaba let out a long breath. Her fingers curled around Glinda's. "You thought so too?"

Glinda nodded again, shifting her legs so she knelt facing Elphaba. "I did. I actually-" She giggled, nervous. "I woke myself up in the middle of the night. The rain had slowed down, and it was darker, and it nearly felt like a different day, and I started to think that it was all in my head and I couldn't get back to sleep."

"I nearly woke you up to ask you," Elphaba admitted, "but you looked so… I didn't want to wake you," she finished.

"You could have." Glinda let her hand rise to brush the green girl's hair out of her face. Elphaba grinned sarcastically, the spell having been broken.

"Now you tell me."

Glinda giggled at that, and brought her hand back to clap it over her mouth, and Elphaba pulled her hand away and kissed her instead, a little hesitant. Glinda shut her eyes as their reluctance melted.

Someone cleared their throat loudly, and they sprang guiltily apart. Nessarose surveyed them from the doorway. "Good morning," she said dryly.

Glinda's mouth had gone dry, and her heart pounded in her throat. Tense, she looked to Elphaba, but the green girl was speechless. She stared at her sister, her expression cycling so quickly through different emotions that Glinda could not place them.

Nessa's eyebrows went up, though not so much in shock as in wry acknowledgement. "No, Nanny, they were still asleep," she called softly over her shoulder, her eyes never leaving the girls.

For a moment that seemed like an eternity to Glinda, the room was still, the trio of gazes unblinking. Nessa looked from Elphaba to Glinda and back; Glinda looked from Elphaba to Nessarose. Elphaba's eyes remained on her sister. Finally, she found her voice. "Nessa," she said wearily, but the younger girl shook her head.

"Later."

"Nessa-" said Elphaba again, quickly, almost apologetic, and again Nessa shook her head. Glinda, feeling acutely that she was intruding on something, stood, going aimlessly to her desk.

"No," Nessarose said firmly. "Not right now. It can wait."

Elphaba bit her lip. "I'd rather we-"

"Elphie," said Nessarose clearly, interrupting her, "I knew." The words stopped Elphaba in mid-sentence, and she closed her mouth abruptly. Glinda turned to stare at her in shock.

"I knew there was something between the two of you," Nessa clarified, softer, realizing the impact of her words.

"How?" asked Glinda, shaken.

Nessarose threw her sister a glance. "Later," she repeated. Glinda thought she saw Elphaba nod, almost imperceptibly, and then Nessarose turned and left.

---

That night, the rain finally began to let up, and a quiet figure slipped through Crage Hall's dormitory. When Elphaba tested it, she found her sister's door unlocked, and peered in. Nessarose was awake, waiting for her, and Elphaba settled at the foot of her bed, the familiarity of the situation disrupted by an air of tense uneasiness. Elphaba bit her lip, looking down, unsure, and Nessa took pity on her. "You want to know how I knew?"

Startled, Elphaba looked up. She nodded.

Nessarose grinned. "I do live with you two," she admonished gently, smiling. "It's not as if it was that obvious, though, but there are some things that just can't go unnoticed. And… when you'd first started arguing, I'd asked Glinda, and she told me you were arguing over a boy, which somehow didn't seem right to me."

Elphaba shifted. "I'd been wondering," she admitted softly, "since we only figured it out last- yesterday, ourselves."

Nessa shut her eyes briefly. She'd never heard her sister say _we_ in quite a way as she just had.

"What?"

"Nothing," she said quickly. "I just thought I should tell you, that's all. Elphie-" she added tentatively, "it's all right with me…"

"_What_?" Elphaba's head snapped up. "Nessarose, I do not need your _permission_ to have a _relationship_-" She nearly flinched as she said the word, and that gave Nessarose an opening.

"But Elphaba-" The younger girl's face was blank and calm, leaving no room for doubt or confusion. "That's what you wanted to ask me. Isn't it?"

Elphaba stared at her, forcing her anger down. It subsided, gradually, and she sighed. "Sort of. I didn't know, since you knew about us-" She looked down, twisting the hem of her skirt between anxious fingers. "If it changed anything with us…"

"Besides that I'm happy for you? Of course not."

Elphaba glanced up.

"Why should it?"

Elphaba nodded shakily.

"I was right, before," said Nessarose softly. "It _was_ Glinda that changed you."

Slowly, Elphaba shook her head. "No," she told her sister. "It was Glinda who showed me who I- who I could be."

"You'd never known that before?"

Elphaba's smile was barely visible. She shook her head and looked down at her hands. Then, in the darkness, so Nessa couldn't see, she brought one hand up to brush her lips, and shivered at the memory of the blonde girl's touch.

"No, Nessie. Not like this."

She rose, catlike and silent, and went to the door, pausing with one hand on the knob. "Good night, Nessa."

"Good night, Elphie." Nessarose grinned, impishly. "Fresh dreams."

"Oh, hush," muttered Elphaba good-naturedly, and shut the door.

Two days later, Ama Clutch died.

* * *

_It's been forever and a half, hasn't it? I'm sorry. I'd thought NaNoWriMo would take up most of my time in November; it turned out I didn't have time for it at all. But Nessa's too much fun to write as omniscient, and I couldn't resist. Besides, I missed you._

_I have a story for y'all, too. A little while ago I saw Gregory Maguire at a book-signing for A Lion Among Men. Someone asked him about Elphaba and Glinda in Wicked, if he just meant them to be friends, or what. His reply was: "Well. All I can say is this: it depends on what you mean by friends."_

_…this is why we love GM (by the way, I'm forgetting my disclaimers, all this is his). That's pretty true, though, isn't it?_

_They made the review button more convenient! Lovely, isn't it? Go on, give it a whirl. You know you want to._


	10. Chapter 10

_From this point on, Storms parallels the book fairly closely, so much so that I can't help but use some of Gregory Maguire's language verbatim. You'll probably recognize some of it; if you do, or if it sounds different, it isn't mine, it's GM's, and a chunk of it definitely will be. This goes for the rest of the story, too._

* * *

The last two days, Glinda found, had turned to a blur in her memory, and they went even hazier as she sat in the chapel listening to the unionist minister drone on and on about the Other Land. She'd never been to a funeral before, and she wasn't enjoying the experience. Glinda sighed. Leaning back, she turned her head ever so slightly and murmured, "Evil and ennui." Elphaba, next to her, smiled wryly, and she squeezed Glinda's hand once, in sympathy. Glinda squeezed back, then slid her hand into her lap

She'd tried, she had. But there was not a spell for everything, as she'd found out the hard way, and so Ama Clutch had gone without telling them who was responsible for Doctor Dillamond's death. She risked another glance at her roomie. Elphaba's mouth was set in a firm line, her eyes far away. She wasn't hearing this, Glinda knew, she didn't believe it: she would be debating if there was any merit in Ama Clutch's last ravings. Nessarose, on Elphaba's other side, saw her looking, caught her eye, and smiled. Glinda flushed and turned her eyes back to the pulpit. The minister, thankfully, was finishing up.

Madame Morrible, it seemed, had had the same thoughts as Elphaba. She cornered the three girls after the service, pressing them to tell her what Ama Clutch had said. The sisters had kept silent, and Glinda had made careful excuses, and then…

And then?

Glinda found she could barely remember. Already the words were fading from her memory, as if they hadn't been said. As they made their way down the street, shawls pulled tight against the brisk wind with its promise of rain, she slipped her fingers into Elphaba's and tried to recall them, shivering. A throbbing ache began behind her temples- something in the civil service, had it been? Maybe… Absently, Glinda worried her bottom lip with her teeth as the headache persisted. Memory came to her in dreamy, splintered fragments: lips against hers, a hand running gently across her shoulder and down her back, making her entire body tingle; long dark hair spread across a pillow and one single thin sheet, an unusually colored shadow reaching out to her and the familiar scent of-

And just as suddenly she found herself swooning. Elphaba, one hand braced against the wall, caught her on reflex, and she shut her eyes, giddy, trying to put the ground back under her feet. Elphaba bent her head. "Tough, tough skin," she murmured, with difficulty. Her breath came in rasps. "Come on, Glinda- you've got better brains- come on! Snap out of it, you idiot, I-" But she choked on that, and stopped abruptly. Seeing that Glinda had almost regained her balance, she let her go, turning to Nessarose, who was coming out of a faint of her own. Glinda sat down hard on a pile of moldy packing straw, shutting her eyes, steadying her breath. _Oh, goodness. That- no, it couldn't be._

"Welcome back to Oz," said Nanny after a moment, huffily, and Glinda opened her eyes and saw that Nessarose had come around. "What goodies were you all snacking on, in there with the Head?"

"Come on," said Elphaba, ignoring her, and Glinda added, "They're waiting," the harshness of her voice surprising even her, and the two of them hurried ahead. When they were far enough away, Glinda touched Elphaba's shoulder gently, and Elphaba said, distressed, "I can't - it just-"

"Don't," said Glinda quickly, as the ache returned to her head, "not again."

"Right," Elphaba said shakily. She looked up warily at the greying sky, and her pace quickened.

Later, when the manager of the Peach and Kidneys had kicked them out- Glinda had to admit that the saffron cream fight had been a bit much, but still she giggled dizzily, remembering it. They huddled together in the street, all at least a bit tipsy, wary of the dangers of a dark avenue at such an hour. The rain Elphaba had feared had come and gone, leaving the cobbles of the road glazed with wetness and shining faintly in the lamplight.

Had they known it was the last time they would all be together, they would have lingered. But Avaric, weaving back and forth among them, agile as a straw man, had other plans. He slurred, "I've got an idea. Who's man enough for the Philosophy Club tonight?"

"Certainly not me," said Pfannee, and giggled, but nobody else got the joke. Nanny's voice rose in disapproval, and then Nessa's, in protest. Glinda shivered, only half from the cold. The Philosophy Club… she'd barely heard of it, and that only in whispers. Shocking ones. She found that she was inflamed with curiosity. Twisting her fingers through Elphaba's, she took a step towards the group, drawing the green girl closer to her, acutely aware of Elphaba next to her. Her breath caught in her throat with something like excitement.

Elphaba's hand twisted away from hers, at first. Then her grip tightened to a nearly crushing force and she followed Glinda, moving closer to the blonde girl and into the group. After a moment, though, she broke away distractedly and went to her sister. "We only have one another," Glinda heard, "and I don't want to be left out, and I don't want to go home!"

"Hush Nessa, hush hush, my pretty," said Elphaba, her words sounding forced. "That's not the place for you, or me either." Was it Glinda's imagination, or had Elphaba hesitated just the tiniest bit before she'd said that? "Come on, we're going home. Glinda, come on."

"You can't tell me what to do," said Glinda, her words running slightly together, trying to stare Elphaba down. "I'm going to go to the Philosophy Club and see if it's true. I want to go, Elphie, come on, let's," she whined under Elphaba's glare, a bit hurt.

But Elphaba shook her head. "The rest can do what they want, but we're going home." Her voice still sounded forced, and for a moment she shut her eyes and glanced away. But then she turned to coax Boq away from the group's plans, and Glinda went to her, stumbling a bit, and caught at her hand.

"Elphie, come on, come with us-"

"Please?" said Fiyero. "If we ask nicely?"

Boq had turned away from Elphaba, and Glinda made to follow him, but Elphaba grabbed her hand and steered her away. "You can't," she whispered in the blonde girl's ear. "We're going to the Emerald City."

Glinda stared at her. "What, now? You're drunk," she accused.

Elphaba shook her head. "I'm not. And we're going-"

"I'm going to the Philosophy Club with my friends-"

"Tonight," hissed Elphaba, finishing her sentence. "Glinda, right now we have no time to-"

But she went dead silent again, shutting her eyes tightly. Even under in the lethargic glow of the streetlamp Glinda could see her blush.

Elphaba pressed her hand to her forehead, then covered her face with both hands. As she stood there, the cab rolled away, and Glinda heard Nessarose protest, halfheartedly, as Nanny led her off in the opposite direction. Still Elphaba hadn't moved. Glinda was unnerved, and now more concerned for her roomie than she was annoyed at having missed out on a night's fun with her friends. "Elphie?" she whispered, then louder, "Elphie, are you all right?"

Elphaba raised her head, her expression haunted. She sounded breathless. "I don't- I didn't- yes, I'm fine." She took two quick steps closer to Glinda, and that put Glinda on edge, for some reason, over-alert. "My dear," Elphaba continued, regaining some composure, "you and I are going back to Crage Hall tonight only to pack a valise. Then we're away.

"But the gates'll be locked-"

"It's over the garden wall," said Elphaba, "and we're going to see the Wizard, come what may and hell to pay."

* * *

_Hey there, loves, and happy Tuesday. Heads up- there's not much more of this left. Two chapters, I think, though there is a chance at three._

_First off: thank you's to ShadowXSiren, The Last Truffula Tree, AMurderOfOne, ajay3bee, Arwen17evenstar, OSL, TodayMeTomorrowU, Freya1, TheWitch'sCat, elizabeth marie cullen, and Wolfen Dreams for being lovely people and reviewing!  
_

_Did a lot of that sound familiar? I feel like I'm cheating, using so much of GM's dialogue nearly straight from the book… but it wouldn't have changed, anyway. I couldn't resist the "come what may and hell to pay" line, but I did try to make it different- and I had to, if I'd used it verbatim it wouldn't have fit in. Like the parts where Elphaba stops herself in mid-sentence (and it helps, too, if you remember what it is she actually says there)._

_As my summer camp leader would say: a-one. A-two. A-you know what to do. (Granted, that was our cue to start singing "Happy Birthday," but you know what I mean. Please? If I ask nicely? =) )_


	11. Chapter 11

_Quick warning: this one's got more, erm, language than I usually use. Since I don't usually use any at all, it's mild, but it is there._

_Disclaimer: not mine, not mine. The characters and a chunk of the text belong GM._

_---  
_

"How do we get back in?" asked Glinda, breathless, staring up at the wall. Elphaba surveyed it critically. Then she locked her hands together and held them out as a step for Glinda.

"You're lighter," she explained.

Glinda hesitated. "What about you?"

"I've done it before by myself. Come on-"

Glinda paused. She could stop here, she could say no, she could go find Nanny and Nessarose and refuse to be part of whatever this clandestine operation would turn out to be.

But Elphaba hadn't realized that- _of course not_, Glinda thought, past exasperation- not at all. The green girl was glancing around edgily, lest they should be discovered. "Well? Are you coming?"

To the Emerald City, God knew why, just two girls against a seething metropolis on some cloak-and-dagger escapade that Glinda knew nothing of- it made for strange prospects, and not all of them favorable. Glinda lingered, a step back.

Elphaba looked up impatiently, seeing Glinda's uncertainty and not recognizing it for fearful reluctance. "Glinda?"

The blonde girl bit her lip. The whole idea of it scared her to pieces. But she couldn't let Elphaba go alone-

And she didn't want her roomie to leave her.

And Elphaba, damn her, had devoted herself so wholeheartedly to this mission that in her fit of determination, she'd forgotten that opinions other than hers existed. It broke Glinda's heart, though, how much the green girl wanted this.

_What the hell,_ she thought recklessly, _here goes_, and stepped up into Elphaba's hands, reaching for the top of the wall.

"Only because it's you, Elphie."

And Elphaba didn't realize just how true this was.

---

The industrialists of Shiz, from an early stage wary of the growing power of the Wizard, had elected not to lay down the rail line from Shiz to the Emerald City as originally planned. Therefore, it was a good three days' journey from Shiz to the Emerald City- and this was in the best of weather, for the wealthy who could pay for a constant change of horses. For Glinda and Elphaba it took more than a week. A bleak, cold-scoured week, as the winds of autumn ripped the leaves off trees with a dry screech and a rattle of brittle, protesting limbs.

They rested, like other third-class travelers, in the back rooms above inn kitchens, a new experience for Glinda, and a hesitant one. The first night, she set down her bag just inside the door. Elphaba looked around, lips pressed tightly together; as she turned away from Glinda, the blonde girl felt abruptly alone, as if the switch of some tik-tok mechanism had been unexpectedly flipped, cutting her off from the rest of the world. And Elphaba wasn't there, not entirely- her mind was Oz-knew-where, and she'd left Glinda behind in a dark, creaky inn. Glinda realized she must have made some noise then, a sigh, perhaps, because Elphaba turned back to her, inquisitive but still not quite all there. "Elphie," Glinda said, her voice small and insignificant and desperate, "what are we doing?"

Elphaba seemed to consider her, as if deciding whether or not she should hear it. A carriage came in: the girls heard the chatter and bustle and noise rise in the yard outside the dust-gilded window. Over the discord, Elphaba was silent. Finally, when it had quieted somewhat, she said, "The right thing."

Glinda stared back at her, trying to understand, to explain to herself the green girl's reasoning. Involuntarily, she caught her bottom lip in her teeth. "I'm scared."

Elphaba looked down. "I know," she said softly, and took a deep breath. "So am I." She shook her head with a sigh, as if coming back to herself. "Glinda, forgive me. I shouldn't have dragged you out here-"

"The right thing?"

Elphaba glanced up, surprised at the interruption. "What?"

"That's what we're here to do?"

Elphaba was silent a moment. "Yes." Her mouth twisted. "I think."

Glinda nodded, just once, a slightly sideways movement. "I trust you," she said simply.

Elphaba nodded. Uncomfortable, she paced; Glinda, leaning against the wall, crossed her arms and watched. But Elphaba was gone again, and Glinda repressed another sigh and turned to give the green girl privacy, so she could be alone with her own thoughts.

That night, in the single lumpy bed, they huddled together for warmth and encouragement and, Glinda told herself, protection. One idea hovered over her head like some omen of evil, or like an overhanging wave about to break on her: that Elphaba would leave her, that she would follow her wandering thoughts away from Glinda and not return. Glinda didn't know where this idea had sprung from, but it made her uneasy, and so she edged closer to Elphaba as a physical reassurance that the green girl was there, steadily, completely there. It made her rest no easier that Elphaba seemed never to sleep at night: daytimes, the long hours spent in poorly sprung carriages, Elphaba would nod off against Glinda's shoulder.

And then, too quickly with the sense of foreboding hanging over Glinda, they were in the Emerald City. The girls paid the carriage master and began to walk. Of the direction there was no question. Every so often they glanced up, and there it was: the great tower of the Wizard's Palace, towers and turrets winking green in the wan, smog-clouded sunlight, as if they were a city under the mythical sea. Glinda's eyes climbed with distaste to the bright hammered-gold plates of the Throne Room. It shone like a beacon in the dimness of the afternoon, and Glinda hated it at once.

Glinda had been impressed with Dixxi House, and with Shiz. But the Emerald City, the great hub of Oz- it was just so _much_. Even impatiently tense Elphaba, who had seen it before, slowed to watch the varied people pass. She gripped Glinda's hand tighter, compulsively, as a ruddy Quadling face appeared out of the crowd. A small person wearing a colorful handknit scarf bustled busily past them- a Squirrel in hiding, or maybe some sort of Monkey? Glinda's head turned to follow the small figure as the two girls fought their way clear of the throng and glanced up-

It was right in front of them now, at the end of the avenue, larger than life and bristling with stiff-looking, heavily armed guards in red uniforms quartered with emerald crosses- even from so far away Glinda could make that out. They looked at each other, Elphaba determined and a little fearful, Glinda terrified for reasons she could not name. Elphaba nodded grimly, but stayed rooted where she stood. It was Glinda who drew a deep breath after a long moment, and stepped forwards, and said gently, "Elphie, let's go."

Elphaba moved closer to the blonde girl, and nodded again, this time uncertain. They began to make their way down the wide avenue towards- towards-

Towards what? For Elphaba, reasoned Glinda as they walked on, shifting their parcels of clothing from hand to hand, it was her mission, her calling, her whatever-this-was that was so important to her. But for Glinda, this verdant monstrosity that loomed before them… Glinda glanced up. The sight made her feel a little sick. Because for Glinda, it meant that the green girl, her Elphie, would soon be gone.

---

_elizabeth marie cullen – ReallyObsessiveWriter – Japple Jacks – MiVarFan 93 – TheWitch'sCat – The Last Truffula Tree - you!  
_

_Thank you all! You're the ones that guilt-trip me into updating. =)  
_

_It's raining torrentially right now. It's beautiful. It also did not start raining until I decided to finish this chapter, and it's been raining for three days now. The weather is obliging my posting habits. How kind._

_I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that… the next chapter will be the last. The good news is that it's already written, and I promise to try my hardest not to be a slacker, so I can actually get it up here in a reasonably short amount of time._

_Meanwhile. What did you think of this one? Any and all feedback is much appreciated, if you've got a minute. It also makes me smile.  
_


	12. Chapter 12

_Ahh! This is it! Quick note: I took a small part out of the end of chapter 11, if it matters to anyone. And a shameless plug to those of you who are familiar with Baum's Oz: if you wanted to read my story Come What May, that would be absolutely amazing. To y'all:_

_Shiva'sGirl – me! – tianikki – Mirsha – ReallyObsessiveWriter – The Last Truffula Tree – Arwen17evenstar – melodious-schemer33_

_Much love. =) And the same goes to everyone who reviewed/ read/ favorited/ alerted/ anything; this is my first multichapter story that actually made sense, and without you all (I know I say this a lot, but it's true) it would have stayed a oneshot._

_See you all around! I'll miss you… thank you all so much!_

---

Glinda craned her neck farther to search the crowd for Elphaba one last time. She'd made thinly-veiled comments about her skill at sorcery, sweetly, to the other passengers to assure none of them would try and appropriate the seats she'd been saving for herself and the green girl. "My sister," she'd lied, after a moment's hesitation, "I'm saving this seat for my sister," and had to fake a cough to hide the nervous giggle that followed. Sister, indeed. Hah.

"There you are!" she cried at last as the green girl appeared out of the crowd. But Elphaba only shoved a package at her.

"Your lunch," she explained.

"Not yours?"

"No. No, Glinda, I'm only here to say goodbye." Elphaba, suddenly distraught, clutched at her hand, and Glinda felt alarm rising in her throat.

"What do you mean, goodbye? To me?"

Elphaba nodded, getting control of herself. "I'm not going back to Crage Hall with you, I'll find somewhere to study on my own. I'll not be part of- Madame Morrible's- school- again-" She forced the words out, hatred in her voice.

Glinda shook her head violently, her curls flying. "No, I can't let you!" she cried. "Madame Morrible will-" She swallowed the rest of her words. "Nanny will eat me alive, Nessarose will die! Elphie, no!" She choked on a sob. "_I'll_ die!"

"Tell them I kidnapped you and made you come here, they'll believe that of me," said Elphaba, pulling back. "And they needn't look for me, for I'm not going to be findable. I'm going down."

Glinda grabbed at her hand, taking a step closer. "You know Nanny won't buy a word of that, and neither will Nessa. And what do you mean, down? Down where? Back to Quadling Country?"

"That would be telling," said Elphaba, maddeningly. "But I won't lie to you, my dear. No need to lie. I don't know yet where I'm going. I haven't decided so I wouldn't have to lie to you." She began to back away, and stepped down into the street.

"Elphie-" Glinda scrabbled for something she hadn't already said. "You _can't_!" she cried in despair, and threw herself out of the carriage after the green girl.

Elphaba fixed a glance on her. "Give me one good reason."

"Because I love you!" Glinda burst out, half wailing, and quickly bit her lip. She looked down, flushed.

But firm, gentle hands forced her face back up, and warm brown eyes met unhappy blue ones. The green girl held Glinda's gaze for a long moment. "And I you," Elphaba said finally, quiet, fierce. "That is one thing you never need doubt, Glinda."

Glinda, shaken, leaned forwards and laid her head on Elphaba's shoulder, and Elphaba held her, a little too tightly. "Elphie," Glinda murmured, "don't do this, don't be a fool. Come back with me."

"Glinda…" Elphaba pulled back, putting her hands on the blonde girl's shoulders. "I would," she said softly, "gladly I would. But this- all of this-" With a sweep of her arm she indicated the thronging crowd behind them, the noise of the station, and farther off the Wizard's palace on the horizon, a majestic and almost outlandish beacon against the smoggy sky. "It's bigger than you, and me, and us, and as much as I wish it wasn't, this has to be done."

"But why do _you_ have to do it?" Glinda was nearly in tears, and Elphaba shook her head.

"You don't see, you couldn't. Glinda, who else will? I'm not going back. I can't." The driver was yelling at them to get on or sod off, and Elphaba yelled something unintelligible back at him.

"Then show me," said Glinda, grabbing her hand, "I'll come with you-"

"No!"

"Why not?"

But Elphaba was silent, and Glinda knew. She glanced away, chastised.

Finally, Elphaba said, "Glinda, I've no idea where I'm going, what I'm doing, who I'll be involved with. Anarchy's a risky business, and I think I can handle that. But I won't see harm come to you because of me." Her voice shook. "I love you far too much for that."

"I don't want you to leave me," said Glinda softly.

"I don't want to leave you either," said Elphaba at the same level, her voice catching just a little, like a sob- just barely, though Glinda heard it. "But-" She stopped, bit her lip.

"It needs doing," Glinda finished for her, resigned.

Elphaba nodded, reluctantly. "You'll be all right," she said, "this is just the return leg of a voyage you already know." She nodded towards the carriage.

"Elphie-" But Glinda's voice was softer now, and Elphaba bit back another protest. "Oh, Elphie," sighed Glinda, and reached up to touch the green girl's cheek. "Damn it, you stubborn thing, I'll miss you." She swallowed, hard.

Elphaba brushed Glinda's hair back, searching her face, as if to memorize her features. "I know, my sweet," she said, and tried to smile. "It'll be strange for me without you, too. But in time-"

Glinda put a hand over the green girl's mouth; as Elphaba silenced abruptly, Glinda let her fingers drift away, slowly, one at a time. "Don't tell me you've ever believed that," she said. "There are some things that time can't heal."

Elphaba turned her head aside for a moment. Then she put her face against Glinda's and kissed her. "Hold out, if you can," she murmured. She kissed her again, and Glinda kissed her back, her fingers tangling in Elphaba's long dark beautiful hair. The driver began yelling at them again, but Glinda didn't hear. There was something she couldn't describe then, or at least not in words, a hot seething mass that rose in her throat and choked out her voice, this desire for time, more _time_, another moment or one last chance, just _one_! She tightened her arms around Elphaba, as if to hold her there, if not to force her into the carriage, but Elphaba was stronger and pushed her back, shoving her towards the carriage. The driver flapped his reins impatiently. "Hold out, my sweet," Elphaba whispered in Glinda's ear, and the blonde girl felt lips brush hers before Elphaba melted back into the crowd.

It was strange that she couldn't pick the green girl out of the crowd, thought Glinda, or maybe it was tears distorting her vision.

Elphaba hadn't cried- Glinda knew she wouldn't have. Well, that was all right: Glinda had, and enough for both of them. She cast a glance at the overcurious Glikkun lady who'd taken over part of her seat. Elphaba's part of the seat. Glinda had a sudden urge to blast the woman with a spell that would send her halfway into next week, just to keep her from prying. She could tell she was going to have a headache later, and shut her eyes briefly to control herself, suppressing a sick panic rising in her throat. "My sister," she lied again, lamely, "had- business to attend to."

"She'll come on the next train, then, I suppose?" The lady was chatty, her badly disguised thirst for gossip hidden behind a smile. Glinda suddenly discovered that she hated this stranger with a fiery, burning passion. She smiled sweetly (and it was an effort, too, just now, when her heart was threatening to fly into pieces).

"Naturally."

The woman's curiosity having been satisfied, Glinda laid her head against the wall and shut her eyes. She felt a tear drip down her cheek, but she didn't care.

Love, what a thing. _Love_, and _I_, and _you_, but what is love, and who are you and I, and what do we matter in the grand scheme of things?

The answer is: we don't. Life does not care about concepts of _us_ or _we_ or even _I_; life does not allow for the giddy whirl of emotions when hands touch or eyes meet, even though it does happen, and violently, too: enough to change a life, enough to end it. And still the world moves on.

Such passion, such a sensation, and so many tumbling thoughts: all of that in those three firebrands, that simple declaration of _I love you_. Strange, how three words, only eight burning letters, can be so much more than just characters on a page: a lifetime, a heart, a world, a promise.

Or, perhaps, a goodbye.


End file.
